Since Bob Bradley was named coach of the US National Soccer team shortly after the US crashed out of the 2006 World Cup, he has made it a mission to put his players up against the best the world has to offer. Since 2006, the US team has travelled to Asia, Europe, Africa and South America looking for games, experience and quality opponents.

Former Chivas USA midfielder Sacha Kljestan scored in his UEFA Champions League debut to help Belgian giants Anderlecht win the first leg of their third round qualifier against Welsh side The New Saints.

The 24-year old Kljestan, who was omitted from Bob Bradley's squad that traveled to South Africa for the World Cup earlier this summer, only made his move to Europe last month.

(via Womens Pro Soccer release)

As many had expected but the Atlanta Beat had yet to confirm until Draft Day, North Carolina's Tobin Heath (Basking Ridge, NJ) was the first player selected in the 2010 WPS Draft on Friday by Atlanta at the Philadelphia Convention Center. Heath was the first of four North Carolina Tarheels selected during the first round (and a total of 7 UNC players) including defender Whitney Engen at No.

OK, so it was only against a Welsh Premier League outfit in a stadium that seats 1,000, but, hey, a goal is a goal:

(AP) American midfielder Sacha Kljestan scored in his European Champions League debut, helping Belgium's Anderlecht win 3-1 at Wales' The New Saints in the first leg of the third qualifying round on Tuesday night.

Photo by ISIphotos.com

By AVI CREDITOR

Chris Seitz greeted the news with open arms and a smile as wide as the goalposts.

An off-season trade from Real Salt Lake to the Philadelphia Union reunited the promising keeper with two coaches under whom he has flourished.

Houston's Brian Ching describes the upcoming U.S. camp as one "big tryout." (AP Photo).

The pre-World Cup camp doesn't start until next week, but you can bet players are already looking over their shoulders since the 30-player preliminary roster must be whittled down to 23.

Here's an early Associated Press break-down of the decisions facing U.

The World Cup is almost here, I can't believe it. Football in the format that can really grow the U.S. fan base. It was the 2008 Olympics when I became officially hooked. Shacked up on the couch with a broken ankle I watched every game. Waking up at 5 A.M. wasn't out of the norm. Lets go! I hope the rest of the country can show the support that we need.

FIFA have designated the match referees for the next eight group matches, which include the Mexico-France and USA-Slovenia matches. The match referee for Mexico-France is Khalil Al-Ghamdi of Saudi Arabia. The 40-year-old teacher has refereed matches at the various Asian confederation club and country competitions, the 2006 FIFA Club World Cup, the 2008 Olympics, and the qualifiers for the 2006 and 2010 FIFA World Cups.

The USA renews what has been an excellent rivalry with Sweden during two summer matches on July 13 at Creighton University's Morrison Stadium (ESPN2 at 8 p.m. CT) and on July 17 at Rentschler Field in East Hartford (Fox Soccer Channel at 7:30 p.m. ET).

With the USA ranked first in the current FIFA Women's World Rankings and Sweden at fourth, U.

PORTLAND, Ore. — The Portland Timbers have acquired goaltender Troy Perkins from D.C. United for goaltender Steve Cronin. The Timbers, who join Major League Soccer as an expansion team next year, will also send D.C. United allocation money as part of the trade announced Friday. United will retain a portion of Perkins' salary budget for [.

It's hard to say whether last night's draw with Kuwait consitutes a point gained or two lost. Normally, one would say that squandering a two-goal lead indicates the latter. But given how poorly the Socceroos played in the second half, the former comes into consideration too.
An instructive comparison can be made with another second-string Socceroo performance, against Bahrain in 2006 (our first game as a member of the Asian confederation, in fact).

Photo by ISIphotos.com

By AVI CREDITOR

Chris Seitz greeted the news with open arms and a smile as wide as the goalposts.

An off-season trade from Real Salt Lake to the Philadelphia Union reunited the promising keeper with two coaches under whom he has flourished.

Former Dutch international Roy Makaay (Wikimedia)

One of the greatest and most prolific goalscorers of the past 20 years announced his retirement from the game. Roy Makaay, 35, plans to hang up his boots and begin to coach within the Feyenoord youth system as he expressed in a press conference on Monday.

West Ham United manager Avram Grant has had his work permit application approved by the Home Office and is now free to start work at the Boleyn Ground. Theresa May was obviously very eager for Grant to concentrate all his energies on preparing the Hammers for the new Premier League season. The vastly-experienced 55-year-old agreed a four-year contract with the club last week and joins shortly after leading Portsmouth to the FA Cup final.

The next big hurdle for the U.S. WNT is qualifying for the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup. If all goes well in Mexico in October and November, the USA will participate in its sixth Women's World Cup tournament next summer in Germany and then a year after that, the 2012 Olympics will commence in London, England (for which the USA will have to qualify as well).

At the 2008 Olympics, Team USA was a machine. This year's squad is smaller, less skilled and less experienced ... and thus, much less dominant. That lack of domination was apparent on Sunday when the United States barely got past Spain by a final score of 86-85. Kevin Durant and Derrick Rose made big plays down the stretch after Spain had taken an 82-80 lead.

European Championship qualifying wil be the focus of plenty of attention today, but the Argentina-Spain friendly just might be the most intriguing match of the day.

Argentina will be led by new manager Sergio Batista, who has taken over for Diego Maradona on an interim basis.

Editor's note: Over the next week, PSP contributors will be posting what we're calling "raves" about some of our favorite Philadelphia players. They need not be the team's best players, but they're guys—or in this case, a gal—we like. You hear plenty of rants when the Union or Independence are losing.

The U.S. WNT wasn't able to train at Estadio Quintana Roo today (none of the Group B teams are getting stadium trainings to preserve the field which will host six first round matches), but the squad did move to its training site for the rest of the tournament, which happens to be on a sod farm, hence it's a pretty good pitch.

A new U.S. v Mexico rivalry may have been born last night when El Tri upset the US Women's National Team with a 2-1 victory. The U.S. upset came in the semifinal of the 2010 CONCACAF Women's World Cup Qualifying tournament played in Cancun Mexico in front of a capacity crowd at Estadio Beto Avila.

A new U.S. v Mexico rivalry may have been born last night when El Tri upset the US Women's National Team with a 2-1 victory. The U.S. upset came in the semifinal of the 2010 CONCACAF Women's World Cup Qualifying tournament played in Cancun Mexico in front of a capacity crowd at Estadio Beto Avila.

The result Friday: Mexico 2 U.S. 1

It was a first-ever victory for Mexico over their northern neighbors in 26 attempts and undoubtedly the biggest loss in the history of the U.S. national team.

And now the U.S. must do the virtually unthinkable: Qualify for next year's World Cup in Germany by beating Italy in a two-leg playoff next month.